Shu Kai Kim has been in prison for a gang murder. He is attacked by a rival gang and ends up killing his attacker. Eddie Dodd (James Woods) is a cynical New York defense attorney. His better days as a civil rights lawyer are behind him and he uses his righteous rhetoric to work for drug dealers. Roger Baron (Robert Downey Jr.) is the new graduate eager to work for the legend but is dismayed by his present condition. Kim's mother comes to them with both his cases of self-defense in prison and a wrongful conviction 8 years ago. Kitty Greer (Margaret Colin) is Eddie's investigator. Robert Reynard (Kurtwood Smith) is the prosecutor.James Woods has more than enough charisma to spare. He and his ponytail have all the screen presence in the world. The story isn't anything to write home about but the movie does have great actors doing good work. Robert Downey Jr. brings his boyish eagerness and Kurtwood Smith accentuates his entitled arrogance. I don't know if I buy Margaret Colin as a tough investigator. She's best at the mom roles. Overall, this is a standard court drama with great actors doing solid work.

Idealistic law student Roger Baron (a solid and likable performance by Robert Downey Jr.) gets a job as an assistant to his hero Eddie Dodd (superbly played with wired intensity by James Woods), a former radical 60's hippie civil rights activist turned cynical and disillusioned hack who ekes out a living going to bat for scumbag drug offenders. Dodd regains his faith and passion for his profession after Baron persuades him to take on an eight-year-old case involving wrongfully convicted killer Shuu Kai Kim (an excellent portrayal by Yuji Okumoto).Director Joseph Ruben keeps the riveting story moving along at a brisk pace, builds plenty of suspense, and makes fine use of gritty New York City locations. Wesley Strick's smart script tackles such weighty issues as redemption, abuse of authority, and deliberate miscarriages of justice done as a means to an end for serving the "greater good" in a bold head-on manner. The terrific supporting cast further ensures that this picture hums from start to finish: Margaret Colin as spunky private investigator Kitty Greer, Kurtwood Smith as hard-nosed district attorney Robert Reynard, Tom Bower as insane rattled witness Cecil Skell, Miguel Fernandes as tough and wormy ex-con Art Esparza, Charles Hallahan as sickly burn-out ex-cop Vincent Dennehy, Luis Guzman as fearsome felon Ortega, Misan Kim as the distraught Mrs. Kim, and Graham Beckel as the corrupt Detective Sklaroff. John Lindley's sharp cinematography provides an impressive polished look. Brad Friedel's dynamic jazzy score hits the stirring spot. Moreover, the electric presence of Woods and Dodd's deep-seated need to have a worthwhile cause in life give this film a tremendous amount of extra charge and resonance. An on the money winner.

I thought they'd never be able to squeeze another laugh out of somebody smoking grass again, not after the last few Cheech and Chong movies, but here it is all over again. There really isn't that much dope smoked, and that only at the beginning, and it is amusing. The scene is used to establish the fact that James Woods' character, Eddie Dodd, is a leftover radical from the 1960s. In case you didn't get it from his smoking grass, a habit he kicks during the trial (a throwback not to the 1960s but to "Reefer Madness"), he also has a pony tail. Well, the poor guy has gone downhill since his early activist days. He still spouts the rhetoric but has stooped to defending coke dealers and making a good deal of money from his cases, using the money, he claims, to handle his marijuana cases pro bono. A newly minted lawyer from Michigan (Downey) joins him and, though disillusioned, pals up and helps handle the case of Ku Shai Kim, a Korean falsely convicted of homicide 8 years ago, now a resident of what appears to be Sing Sing. The location shooting was done in Oakland, apparently, but it all looks rather New Yorkish except for Greenwich Village, which I once knew quite well. The plot could have been recycled from a noir screenplay that had been resting in somebody's drawer for forty or fifty years, though it is played more for laughs than despair. The innocent Korean lad turns out to have been nailed through the machinations of a politically motivated and corrupt police force and DA's office. There are a couple of beatings. A murder or two. A flashback that reveals the true nature of the crime. The prisoner is freed -- a more recent killing, probably in self defense, is entirely skipped over -- and joins his happy family and goes home to a meal of bulkogi or something. Woods, his faith in the justice system, in human nature, and in himself restored, claps his new law partner on the back and begins spouting 1960s slogans again as they stroll into the sunset.Woods is up to the role, as usual, wisecracking has way through the most demanding travails. (While being pounded to a pulp and being called, "A ****** Jew," he grimaces through his pain and snaps, "Only half." There is one scene, towards the end, when someone's brains are blown out in front of him and he looks shocked and convincingly frightened, although the moment doesn't last long. Abject cowardice is not Woods' strong suit as an actor. He can't seem to hold back these fleeting, nervous smiles. They come and go in an instant, meaninglessly. Natalie Wood had the same problem. Bogart had his lip twitches too, but he was judicious about their deployment. Robert Downey looks appealingly innocent. Margaret Colin is plumply pretty. She generally holds her face down and looks upward at people with her great big dark attractive calf-like eyes. Poor Kurtwood Smith. A villain again. His voice has a built in sneer, his eyes seem small, and his profile is almost flat. But he's a reliable villain. Some character actors give the impression that they're being treated unfairly by being cast in the same slots repeatedly, but Smith would have a hard time being anything other than what he usually plays. The other players are decent as well.Perhaps the funniest scene is a brief argument between Downey and a psychiatric patient who believes Kennedy was assassinated by the phone company because he wanted to break it up into smaller companies and the company would never let him do that. Downey tells him that the phone company actually has been split up. The patient says, "Oh -- and you BELIEVE that?" Downey begins to argue with the guy, saying he can bring papers that will prove he's telling the truth, until interrupted by Woods, who begs him to stop, "Please!" There is nothing new in this film. The disillusioned activist business is superimposed on a traditional plot. But it's easy to watch, amusing in parts, and occasionally brings a welcome tension to the screen. I've seen it several times and rather enjoyed it.

As a huge fan of Robert Downey, Jr. I anticipated this film for weeks when I heard it was on television. So, last Saturday night I turned on the TV and, I wasn't sorry.James Woods is in a great performance as Edward Dunn, a hotshot attorney who hires Roger Baron (Robert Downey, Jr.) to clerk for him. Woods defends a Korean whom's mother believes that he's been wrongly accused. But all the facts points to the Korean (Yuji Okumodo)...As I said, Woods is in a great performance, which unfortunately could have been much better had it not been for his wiggy hairdo. Downey is excellent, and you can actually feel his character's anticipation. You can also feel the coldness and bitterness of Okumodo's character. Kurtwood Smith is very interesting as Robert Reynard, and the rest of the cast are also in intruiging performances. The film is at some points very hard to follow, but overall this film could well be one of the best crime dramas of the late 1980's.